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Professional PowerPoint Slides
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Bad Slides
Tips to be Covered Outlines
Slide Structure
Fonts
Colour
Background
Graphs
Spelling and Grammar
Conclusions
Questions
Outline
Make your 1st or 2nd slide an outline of your presentation (such as the previous slide)
Follow the order of your outline for the rest of the presentation
Only place main points on the outline slide
Ex: Use the titles of each slide as main points
Slide Structure – Good
Use 1-2 slides per minute of your presentation
Write in point form, not complete sentences
Include 2-4 points per slide
Avoid wordiness: use key words and phrases only
Slide Structure - Bad
This page contains too many words for a presentation slide. It is not written in point form, making it difficult both for your audience to read and for you to present each point. Although there are exactly the same number of points on this slide as the previous slide, it looks much more complicated. In short, your audience will spend too much time trying to read this paragraph instead of listening to you.
Slide Structure – Good
Show the entire slide at one time:
Will help you keep your presentation focused
If you have several bullets on the slide, you won’t have to click the mouse for each bullet
Slide Structure - Bad
Do not use distracting animation
Do not go overboard with the animation
Be consistent with the animation that you use
Fonts - Good
Use at least a 20-point font
Use different size fonts for main points and secondary points
this font is 24-point, the main point font is 26-point, and the title font is 50-point
Use a standard font like Times New Roman or Arial
Fonts - Bad
If you use a small font, your audience won’t be able to read what you have written
CAPITALIZE ONLY WHEN NECESSARY. IT’S DIFFICULT TO READ AND IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE YELLING
Don’t use a complicated font
Colour - Good Use a colour of font that contrasts sharply with the
background
Ex: blue font on white background
Use colour to reinforce the logic of your structure
Ex: light blue title and dark blue text
Use colour to emphasize a point
But only use this occasionally
Colour - Bad
Using a font colour that does not contrast with the background colour is hard to read
Using colour for decoration is distracting and annoying.
Using a different colour for each point is unnecessary Using a different colour for secondary points is also
unnecessary
Trying to be creative can also be bad
Background - Good
Use backgrounds such as this one that are attractive but simple
Use backgrounds which are light
Use the same background consistently throughout your presentation
Background – Bad Avoid backgrounds that are distracting or difficult to
read from
Always be consistent with the background that you use
Graphs - Good
Use graphs rather than just charts and words
Data in graphs is easier to comprehend & retain than is raw data
Trends are easier to visualize in graph form
Always title your graphs
Graphs - Bad
January February March April
Pepsi 20.4 27.4 90 20.4
Coca-Cola 30.6 38.6 34.6 31.6
Graphs - Bad
20.4
27.4
90
20.4
30.6
38.6
34.6
31.6
0
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40
50
60
70
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90
100
January February March April
Minor gridlines are unnecessary
Font is too small
Colours are illogical
Title is missing
Shading is distracting
Graphs - Good
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
January February March April
Items Sold in First Quarter of 2010
Blue = Pepsi
Red = Coke
Spelling and Grammar Proof your slides for:
speling mistakes
the use of of repeated words
grammatical errors you might have make
Nuthin’ iz werse then reeedin a bnch of stuph that ain’t bean spellll chexed or ain’t been read by nowone
NO chat lingo (2, 4, U, BTW, etc….)
To use spell check in this program, go to ....Tools….Spelling
Images
Try to avoid using clip art…it looks cheap
Use pictures to convey your point
Use one per slide
vs.
Conclusion
Use an effective and strong closing
Your audience is likely to remember your last words
Use a conclusion slide to:
Summarize the main points of your presentation
Suggest future avenues of research
Questions??
End your presentation with a simple question slide to:
Invite your audience to ask questions
Provide a visual aid during question period
Thank you
Avoid ending a presentation abruptly (do not say “That’s it”…say “Thank you”)